All efforts must now be made to bring the unions into the struggle. This will be difficult, though, due to the cowardly nature of the union bureaucracy. The message must be got through to all unionists that racism is fatal to working class solidarity. ... read full story / add a comment

If you have been following what’s been going with the fash over the past year, you might want to skip to the paragraph under the image of the Herald Scum. Otherwise, read on: ... read full story / add a comment

The labour movement in Melbourne, though far declined from its former strength, has neither totally given up the ghost nor been allowed quarter by its enemies. Unions campaign for health and safety, against insecure work and against the use of temporary work visas to undermine labour standards. The campaigns, though, are undermined by the conservatism and timidity of the union officials, their support for the Labor Party and their nationalist focus on “Aussie jobs”, which interferes with building the necessary solidarity between local workers and super-exploited migrant workers. Meanwhile, the capitalists are proceeding with legislation to destroy the construction workers' union (CFMEU) and bring the entire union movement under close State supervision. ... read full story / add a comment

And so the question arises – who can abolish capitalism and how can we manage to do it? Again we say the only way to abolish capitalism is through workers’ revolution. By organising in the workplace and taking control out of the hands of the capitalists we can stop the capitalists destroying the environment and begin active reconstruction of economic processes. We can use the campaign to close Hazelwood to open discussion with workers who want to save the planet, but don’t want to become human sacrifi ces in the process. ... read full story / add a comment

We must go a few steps further, therefore, than just engaging in anti-racist and antifascist organising. We must fight the ongoing displacement of Aboriginal people from their homelands in Western Australia. We must fight the mass incarceration and illegalisation of people seeking asylum in this country. We must confront all of these “single” issues. They are part of an entire against the working class and our communities, by the Government, capital and the State. ... read full story / add a comment

Fascism is a movement of the ruined middle classes (e.g. small business going out backwards), who aim to take State power by, or with the assistance of, extra-legal force in order to resolve their problems at the expense of the working class. In attempting this, it makes use of demoralised sections of the unemployed who can think little further than where their next meal is coming from. ... read full story / add a comment

The Campaign for a General Strike to Stop Tony Abbott is developing, but needs to go a lot further and a lot faster. Each day that goes by without an organised working class response is a day that Liberals harm working class people and democratic rights in Australia further, a day to destroy the environment, torture refugees, wage imperialist war in West Asia, stoke reactionary social forces and stack public offices with Right wing zealots. To wait till the next election is to concede Tony Abbott the right to commit any crimes, no matter how appalling. [Italiano] ... read full story / add a comment

The movement against Aboriginal deaths in custody is growing. It is growing because the deaths just keep happening, and that’s criminal. We're not just talking about deaths from natural causes. Many of these deaths are far from natural.
From 'The Anvil' newsletter of Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group (MACG), issue 4/1, Feb. 2015. ... read full story / add a comment

The Liberal Government brought down a budget in May that outraged workers across Australia. It is a massive attack on the working class across the board, with cuts to pensions, Medicare, higher education, State funding for health and education, unemployment benefits and much more. There is hardly a sector of the working class that won’t be dramatically affected. ... read full story / add a comment

There is no budget emergency. This budget is a gross assault on the conditions of the working classes, smuggled in under contrived hysteria about debt. Meanwhile, Australia’s debt to GDP rate is the third lowest in the OECD. The 2014 budget is simply concerned with enhancing the profitability of corporate Australia and the power of the state on the backs of working people. The poorest people in our society will be the most affected – this means people of colour, Aboriginal people, women, young people and people with disabilities. ... read full story / add a comment

For too long sexual violence survivors have been sacrificed at the altar of ‘movement building.’ This approach has a massively destructive impact on survivors, but it also prevents us from creating the kind of movements that we need. We must create social movements which build the revolutionary collective power of the working classes to confront all systems of oppression and exploitation. But to do this we need to start practicing what we preach. We need to challenge misogynist attitudes about sexual violence within our midst and create enduring structures which allow us to support survivors and hold perpetrators to account. Only then can we genuinely claim to be fighting for anarchism and social justice. ... read full story / add a comment

An Irish anarchist living in Melbourne, Australia gives his perspective on the 'asylum seeker' debate there leading up to the forthcoming elections. He argues Irish workers should be standing in solidarity with the most marginalised and dispossesed in our society. In the words of one Aboriginal activist; ' “As people who know what it’s like to be invaded by boat people we are in a better position to judge how the current boat people should be treated. Where the original boat people who took our country were armed to the teeth and bent on conquest, asylum seekers in 2012 are unarmed and seeking sanctuary." [Français]
... read full story / add a comment

The first task of any small political group is to understand the situation in which they seek to operate. Understanding the economic, political and social situation in a given society shows a political group the way forward; it allows us to identify what opportunities exist, what challenges we are likely to encounter, and what our capacity is likely to be in responding to these. ... read full story / add a comment

At least four guards involved in the tear gassing and other incidents of abuse while Dylan was in Don Dale are currently working as guards in the Darwin Correctional Centre and are continually tormenting Dylan. Some have threatened to have him bashed if he speaks out about his treatment.

The Australian Federal election campaign grinds on, with most people being heartily sick of the whole thing. Neither the Liberals nor Labor are trusted by most voters and the major parties are horrified at the drift of voters to minor parties of all stripes. Anarchists have something to say about this, something deeper than just advising people about voting. We say if you’re looking to fix the problems in society, Parliament is the wrong place.

As many of you know, Jack 'The Anarchist' Grancharoff died on the 15th of May, at his home in Quaama, South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, aged 91. He died 'with his boots on' - he seemed to have risen from a chair, with an open book and a glass of something interesting on the table, collapsed onto the floor and was found a day or two later.

If we want peace, we must follow the example of the workers and worker-soldiers who ended WWI. We must build a working class movement which spans across frontiers and cuts the ground out from under the capitalist governments that have no solution for international problems but war. We must make a workers' revolution and overthrow capitalism. And only then will we be able to build a world of liberty, equality and solidarity – a world at peace.

The United Patriots Front, which is a Fascist split-off from the far Right Reclaim Australia, held a rally in Richmond on Sunday 31 May. They wanted to rally in front of the Richmond Town Hall, but were opposed by the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism*. The Fascists came off second best.

The far Right “Reclaim Australia” plans to hold an anti-Muslim rally in Melbourne and also at other places around Australia. They want people to believe they’re just “ordinary Australians” who are worried about “radical Islam”. What they’re NOT telling you is that they are Fascists – yes, actual far Right, Hitler-loving racists who have decided it’s a tactical advantage to wrap themselves in Australian flags. [Italiano]

About 25-30 workers at International Flavours and Fragrances (IFF) in Dandenong, Melbourne have initiated a factory occupation in january 25 2015 in response to the company trying to force a pay cut and indefinitely locking them out. SUPPORT IS NEEDED NOW! It's really significant that these workers have decided to take strong industrial action at a point when workers rights are under attack more than ever.

This statement was prepared for the public meeting on “Beyond Kobanê – Behind the revolution in Rojava (Syrian Kurdistan)”, which was held at Victorian Trades Hall on Wednesday 3 December by Australians for Kurdistan. Most of it was read at the meeting, but due to time constraints, the latter part was curtailed. The parts in italics were not able to be read. There has been minor editing for publication.

All efforts must now be made to bring the unions into the struggle. This will be difficult, though, due to the cowardly nature of the union bureaucracy. The message must be got through to all unionists that racism is fatal to working class solidarity.

The labour movement in Melbourne, though far declined from its former strength, has neither totally given up the ghost nor been allowed quarter by its enemies. Unions campaign for health and safety, against insecure work and against the use of temporary work visas to undermine labour standards. The campaigns, though, are undermined by the conservatism and timidity of the union officials, their support for the Labor Party and their nationalist focus on “Aussie jobs”, which interferes with building the necessary solidarity between local workers and super-exploited migrant workers. Meanwhile, the capitalists are proceeding with legislation to destroy the construction workers' union (CFMEU) and bring the entire union movement under close State supervision.

And so the question arises – who can abolish capitalism and how can we manage to do it? Again we say the only way to abolish capitalism is through workers’ revolution. By organising in the workplace and taking control out of the hands of the capitalists we can stop the capitalists destroying the environment and begin active reconstruction of economic processes. We can use the campaign to close Hazelwood to open discussion with workers who want to save the planet, but don’t want to become human sacrifi ces in the process.

At least four guards involved in the tear gassing and other incidents of abuse while Dylan was in Don Dale are currently working as guards in the Darwin Correctional Centre and are continually tormenting Dylan. Some have threatened to have him bashed if he speaks out about his treatment.

The Australian Federal election campaign grinds on, with most people being heartily sick of the whole thing. Neither the Liberals nor Labor are trusted by most voters and the major parties are horrified at the drift of voters to minor parties of all stripes. Anarchists have something to say about this, something deeper than just advising people about voting. We say if you’re looking to fix the problems in society, Parliament is the wrong place.

As many of you know, Jack 'The Anarchist' Grancharoff died on the 15th of May, at his home in Quaama, South Coast of New South Wales, Australia, aged 91. He died 'with his boots on' - he seemed to have risen from a chair, with an open book and a glass of something interesting on the table, collapsed onto the floor and was found a day or two later.

If we want peace, we must follow the example of the workers and worker-soldiers who ended WWI. We must build a working class movement which spans across frontiers and cuts the ground out from under the capitalist governments that have no solution for international problems but war. We must make a workers' revolution and overthrow capitalism. And only then will we be able to build a world of liberty, equality and solidarity – a world at peace.